Nice clear overview of the moldmaking and casting process! I'd like to see it with an even more complex shape, one that didn't lend itself easily to the wood baseplate method.
Also, I can't be the only one who heard "spray-on vaseilne" and immediately started thinking up prank uses for that stuff. To be in high school again!

using plasticine instead of milled wood also kinda works for the parting line. just poke dimples in it for the locking mechanism. More ghetto but less time consuming.
I love that fact you are wearing lab coats in all of this. It reeks of SCIENCE!!